Raw soup 24/7

[Deleted]

Hi everyone,

I have a question, perhaps a silly one sorry

I have my ferrets eating raw soup in the first step to moving them to raw only. I have taken their kibble away so they only have access to the soup in their aviary outside. I assume this is OK as the soup has all they need nutritionally?

I have 5 ferrets (link to my introduction below)

holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=introductions&thread=9877&page=1#140952

They all eat meat to a degree, but given the choice, would eat kibble. I am starting them off on soup as Pixie isn't at the "chunks" stage yet. I am also putting chunks out as well so the others can have chunks and soup. Pixie is loving the soup which I am so pleased about as I wasn't sure if she'd take to it.

Thanks all

[Heather]

If they're all eating soupy and not holding out, then yes you can remove the kibbles. I'm assuming that your soupy has all the necessary ingredients meat, organs and bone or powdered egg shell? (very basic...there can be more ingredients but this is a good short term coverage)
ciao

[Deleted]

Hi Heather, thanks for your quick reply.

Yes the soup is 8oz muscle meat, 1oz heart, 1oz liver and 1/3 tsp eggshell. They love it and it is disappearing quickly so my only worry is them not having enough. It is the first day I have taken the kibble away so I am going to have to judge how much to give.

They also have a half a rabbit cut into chunks in their cage at the moment so the have plenty to eat - it is just Pixie that is relying on the soup really. I need the others to leave the soup for her as that is my only worry that all the soup will go and Pixie won't eat the rabbit.

That said, she does eat meat so hopefully if she gets hungry overnight and there is no soup left, she'll grab some rabbit. They are in the house for playtime at the moment so have some chunks of lung which Gizmo and Jasmine have tried, others not too impressed ;D

I have just defrosted some more soup ice cubes - a whole tray should be OK for overnight.

I assume there is no rule for how much soup to feed, it is just a case of playing it by ear?

[Sherry]

Give her as much as she'll eat If she refuses to see the chunks as food, you may have to take her through the various stages. From soup to wet ground consistency, to slivers, then chunks.

[Deleted]

Thanks Sherry. My plan is to go a staged approach to get her on to chunks like the others. She will eat chunks - when the mood takes her ;D

Unfortunately I think the others are going for the soup rather than the chunks - I may be going backwards with them ;D

[katt]

In my experience with switching groups, you often have to stick with the least common denominator for that exact reason. "No ferret left behind" essentially. This means that groups can often take longer to switch. Be patient and hang in there, sometimes it IS two steps forward, one step back, but they will all get there.

[Sherry]

Try feeding her the soup separately if you can. Even if it's on your lap. That way she gets two soupy meals a day, the others don't get access to it, and she gets to watch them eat their chunks afterwards. Sometimes you'll have a case of "monkey see, monkey do"

[Deleted]

Thanks both.

Sherry, is Pixie OK just having two soup meals a day? Obviously when they were being fed kibble they have 24/7 access to food. I can feed her separately to the others, she is the first in the soup bowl anyway.

I am going to keep them all on soup as the lowest common denominator as Hurricanekatt has suggested. Purely because then I know they are all getting the right balance.

I was up until 2am making soup, I need another freezer ;D

[Sherry]

Yeah, twice a day is fine with raw, as long as she's eating 2-3 oz a day They gain a LOT more nutrition from the food they were meant to have. Just be sure to leave some chunks in the cage for in between noshings. That way, she may also move along a lot faster than she would otherwise.

[Deleted]

Thanks Sherry. I left some kibble out overnight last night as I hadn't noticed Gizmo eating the soup yesterday and no poo's at all.

I have enticed him to the soup this morning by putting a little fish oil into the soup.

I will put chunks down too. It is worrying making sure all 5 are eating properly

[Heather]

Yes, switching can be stressful, especially when dealing with a number of fuzzes who are at different stages
ciao

[Deleted]

Sure is Heather. It is also more difficult as they live outside so I can only monitor what each one is eating when I bring them into the house for playtime.

Yesterday went well. Pixie stuck to the soup, but the others had heart. I still worry they are eating enough

Beef chunks this morning, cut up really small to see if Pixie will help herself. I think having it cut up small encourages Gizmo to eat it too quickly though as he looked like he was trying to be sick after gulping some down. They have rabbit (small chunks) for this evening.

I have a delivery of the following arriving tomorrow;

Small Rabbit (6)
Frozen Hamster (10)
Frozen Guinea Pig (6)
Frozen Baby Quail (10)
Frozen Rat Large (25)
Frozen Mice Large (20)
Frozen Quail (1)
Frozen Mice Pinkies (50) - thought they might like these as little treats

The only thing they have had of the above is rabbit and mice (as I give them the occasional mouse from the ones that I have to feed my corn snake). They weren't overly keen on quail when I gave them this before but I have ordered one large one to try them again and also some baby quail as they might prefer them (they love DOC's) Hopefully they will like the other whole prey. I can only but try.

An expensive way to do it, but I am going to struggle with edible bone otherwise as chicken doesn't agree with Zebedee, turkey wings/spines/necks hard to come by but I am visiting some more butchers to find some. Duck wings/ribs and necks I am also hoping to pick up. I also am going to pick up some pork ends/riblets for them - they love pork.

Do DOC's register as an edible bone choice? The boys normally have one a week and the girls normally manage half each per week.

Finally, they have been known to eat the meat and leave the bones, so if I find this to be the case, can I grind the bones up and either mix the powder into a soup or over their muscle meat?

Thanks

[Sherry]

Consider anything that immature as candy cotten for ferrets ;D I have never seen such hissing fights as over DOCs! this includes pinkies of any variety. For edible bone, you want adult and subadult.

[Deleted]

Thanks Sherry. I didn't think it would count as edible bone but I thought it was worth asking.

Finally, they have been known to eat the meat and leave the bones, so if I find this to be the case, can I grind the bones up and either mix the powder into a soup or over their muscle meat?

[Sherry]

Yes, you can. Hopefully once they build up enough jaw strength they'll leave fewer and fewer behind.